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Like Ralphie’s Red Ryder BB Gun in A Christmas Story, everyone has their own fond memories of opening that one super special present on Christmas morning… So with December 25th quickly approaching, some of our All-Star Christmas performers revealed their all-time favorite gifts they received when they were kids!

Sometimes, a good Christmas gift can set someone down a path they will follow for the rest of their life. That’s pretty much how it went for Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys.

“I’d say probably when I was around twelve-years old, I got my very first karaoke machine from my parents and that’s where it all started,” said Dorough. “I am actually kind of dating myself… It had an 8-track cassette player on it!”

What was Howie rocking out to circa 1992?

“My first tape was Bobby Brown’s ‘My Prerogative.’ That was my first one! I think I had to go out to the store and buy the set singles. Back in those days, the flip side of the tape had the instrumental for some of the songs. I had to cut my own stuff… I was splicing, and cutting up tape, and everything!”

Another artist who gained inspiration from her favorite gift was Avril Lavigne, whose fave present had her future as a punk rocker written all over it!

“I got a little plastic guitar and it had a microphone attached to it,” she explained. “A tiny little plastic one. It was pink and white, and it had a microphone. I was probably three years old… Do you think that inspired me at all?”

But not every artist’s favorite gifts were music related… Gavin DeGraw recalled his all-time favorite toy, which meant a lot to the singer even if it didn’t directly influence his musical career.

“It was Christmas Eve –we always did Christmas Eve at my dad’s parent’s house– and I got a yellow mechanical construction crane. It had a remote control, but it wasn’t the kind that was wireless,” he said. “Music never appealed to me at the time… I’m a DeGraw– I grew up watching my dad build our house!”